Woven wire tube



July 17, 1934.

E. EYKELLEMS WOVEN WIRE TUBE original Filed July 24, 195o Patented July 17, 1934 vUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1,966,929 WOVEN WIRE TUBE Edgar E. Kellems, New York,

Kellems Products, Inc., New York,

N. Y., assigner to N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application July 24,

1930, Serial No.

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a woven wire tube commonly known as a cable grip of the class set forth in my pending application Serial No. 470,309, iil'ed July 24th, 1930, of which the present application is a division.

'I'hese grips are preferably woven around and upon the periphery of a mandrel of predetermined size according to the diameter of the cable ory 0 matically distend axially and contract radially to frictionally engage the periphery of said object.

In many instances, the surface of the object to be engaged by the grip is extremely hard or smooth while in other cases the portion of the object available for engagement by the grip is relatively short and under these conditions it has been found that if the grip is of uniform diameter from end to end and applied to the object, its frictional grip therewith is frequently insufficient to support said object or to draw the same endwise resulting in the slippage of the grip from the object.

On the other hand, I have discoveredl that by making the woven wire grip more or less tapered from its draft end to its cable receiving end and then placing it over and upon the object with its smaller end foremost, an endwise pull upon the draft end will cause the smaller end to instantly grab and hold the object while the remaining portions will gradually tighten upon said object from the smaller end toward the larger end and thereby secure a firmer frictional grip upon the object than would be possible with a cylindrical woven wire grip.

The main object, therefore, is to provide a tapered woven wire grip which is expansible and contractible radially by endwise compression and extension and is adapted to be placed over and upon the object with its smaller end foremost so that 'when extended by pulling force upon its draft end, its smaller end will instantly grip the object, thereby causing its remaining portions to gradually tighten upon the object from the small end toward the larger end.

Another object is to weave the strands around and upon an upwardly tapered upright mandrel from the top downwardly or from the smaller end toward-the larger end thereof and also to taper the outer edges of the lugs orshoulders of the mandrel in theopposite direction or in the direction of weaving whereby the completed grip assumes the same taper as the mandrel and may be easily stripped therefrom by endwise compression from the lower or larger end upwardly resulting in the radial expansion of said grip beyond the outer edges of the lugs and simultaneous upward displacement of the completed grip from the mandrel.

Other objects and uses the following description.

In the drawing:-

Figure 1 is a face view of one form of my invention showing a tapered mandrel with peripheral shoulders permanently and rigidly united theretotogether with a strand tube woven thereon.

Figure 2- is a side elevation of the woven wire tube shown in Figure 1 as applied to a cable or similar article, shown by dotted lines.

In Figure 1 I have shown an upright upwardly tapered mandrel 1, preferably of circular cross section, having a multiplicity of lugs or shoulders 2 rigid therewith and projecting outwardly from the periphery thereof and arranged in axially spaced rows and also in spiral spaced relation around the mandrel for directing the weaving of the strands of an open mesh tube 3 which is formed on the mandrel, the lugs of each row being arranged in uniformly spaced relation circumferentially and disposed in the same plane at right angles to the axis of the mandrel, as shown in the drawing. The upper ends of the lugs 2 are preferably concaved at 2 to assist in holding the strands in place during the weaving operation.

The diameters of these mandrels and woven wire tubes formed thereon are usually made to conform approximately to the diameters or" the cables or other articles to'which the ,woven wire tube is to be applied.

The length of the mandrel is made to conform more or less closely to the length required for the woven wire tube formed thereon depending somewhat upon the use to which the tube is to be put, said mandrel being usually supported in an upright position for convenience of weaving the strands thereon from top to bottom.

As shown in Figure l, the mandrel 1 is tapered from bottom to top and is, therefore, supported vertically with its smaller end uppermost so that when the strands are interwoven around and upon its periphery the smaller end of the open mesh tube will be at the top and will gradually increase in diameter as 'the weaving con tinues toward the bottom.

As illustrated, the strands which form the tapered expansile and contractile tubular body 3 are arranged in pairs and those of each pair are preferably made of continuous strands of wire or other Asuitable material, bent or folded substantially midway between its ends to form a will be brought lout in loop adapted to be placed over and upon one of the uppermost shoulders 2 with its opposite sides or ends extending downwardly the full length of or below the lower end of the mandrel 1.

That is, the intermediate portions or loops of the strands are preferably hung upon or suspended from the upper circular vrow of shoulders 2, the opposite sides or ends of each pair being then wound spirally in opposite directions around and upon the periphery of the mandrel 1 and interwoven with the other strands in the manner of braiding or weaving to form an open-mesh tapered tube 3, the crossing portions of the strands being free to move relatively to each other so that when the open-mesh tube is completed it may be expanded radially by endwise compression thereof, or reversely contracted radially by endwise extension.

When the interweaving of the strands around and upon the mandrel is completed the free ends thereof may be twisted or bunched together in pairs as shown in Figure 1, and the ends of the several pairs then returned toward the adjacent end of the woven tube and bound together by a binding wire a' to form a draft eye or loop a.

As shown in Figure 2, this draft eye is arranged at one side of the axis of the woven wire tube 3, but obviously the free ends of the strands as shown in Figure 1 may be returned and bent into the form of two or more draft eyes or loops, or, may be formed into a single draft eye coaxial with the axis of the open-mesh tube.

The lugs 2 project outwardly from the periphery of the main body of the mandrel 1 and are preferably tapered downwardly or in the same direction as the weaving of the strands upon the mandrel from the small end to the large end thereof, the upper end faces of the several shoulders being preferably formed with concave seats for receiving and temporarily retaining adjacent portions -of the strands against accidental displacement during the weaving operation, and thereby assisting in directing the laying of the strands around and upon said mandrel in order to establish a uniform open-mesh strand tube.

The outer faces of the shoulders 2 are inclined downwardly at 2" toward the axis of the mandrel at an angle to said axis and in the direction of weaving oi' the strands upon the mandrel, the object of which is to facilitate the stripping or endwise displacement of the woven strand tube from the mandrel.

For example, when the open-mesh tube is completed upon the mandrel, its lower or larger end is pressed upwardly, thereby expanding the tube radially beyond the outer faces of the shoulders 2 so that the continued upward pressure upon the lower end of the tube will displace the latter upwardly from the mandrel duringl which operation any portions of the strands which may engage the outer edges of the lugs or shoulders 2 will be thereby deected outwardly to assure the free upward displacement of the entire tube from the mandrel.

It is evident, however, that instead of displacing the woven mesh tube from the mandrel in the manner described, the lower end of the tube may be held by one hand while the mandrel may be withdrawn endwise from the tube in the direction of the larger end thereof.

When the woven strand tube is completed, as shown in Figure 2, it may be compressed endwise for expanding the same radially and then placed over and upon a cable or other article A as shown by dotted lines in Figure 2, and then allowed to extend endwise to frictionally tighten the same upon the cable and permit the latter to be drawn endwise or suspended from any suitable support through the medium of the draft eye e.

This weaving of the strands around and upon the periphery of the tapered mandrel in the manner described causes the completed woven grip to normally assume the substantially same diameter and taper as that of the mandrel when displaced therefrom.

When it is desired to use this tapered grip for supporting a cable or other object or for drawing said object endwise through an underground conduit or along an overhead carrier, it may be compressed axially by hand for expanding the same radiallyto a diameter greater than that of the object whereupon it may be placed endwise over and upon said object with its smaller end foremost and then released to allow it to contract radially upon the periphery of the 0bject under its own tension.

Under these conditions, the smaller end of the grip will first close upon the object with sufficient friction to hold it in place against slipping, after which the endwise pull upon the larger draft end or eye a and resultant endwise extension of the grip will cause the remaining portions of said grip to contract radially and thereby to gradually tighten upon the object from the smaller end toward the larger end of the grip with sufficient friction to enable the object to be supported or drawn endwise by said grip.

Furthermore, if the available portion of the object to be engaged by the tapered grip is relatively shorter than the grip, it may be engaged by a correspondingly short portion of the tapered end of said grip with the assurance that when tightened upon the object its friction will be sufficient to enable the object to be supported or drawn endwise by pulling force applied to the draft end of the grip.

It will now be understood that the tapered grip as shown and described may be used with equal efllciency upon objects having smooth or hard surfaces or upon objects in which the ends available for receiving the grip are relatively short.

It is also to be understood that the same tapered grip may be applied with equal efliciency to objects having different cross-sectional or lengthwise peripheral contours and in many other relations without departing from the spirit of the invention. f

The construction shown and described, is particularly simple, practical and highly efficient for the reason that the shoulders 2 always remain permanently upon the mandrel and permit the woven strand tube to be easily and quickly removed from the mandrel by upward displacement without removing or displacing any of the lugs or shoulders 2, thereby greatly .increasing the output of the completed tubes for a given period of time and also materially reducing the labor required for such operations.

What I claim is:

A cable grip comprising a plurality of wire strands interwoven with each other about a common axis, the distance of said strands from said axis being gradually increased from one end toward the other end of the grip.

EDGAR E. KEILEMS.

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